Okay, please don't take this to be me saying it's okay to leave dogs in a car in the summer, it's not okay. There is so much heightened awareness right now here in BC because of the dog walker who killed 6 dogs this way it's getting nuts! As most of you know Halo goes to work with me, and basically pretty much anywhere we go she goes. I don't do malls because she can't come in and can't sit in the car in the sun. Well the other day I had to get dog food for her on the way home, so we stopped at a little strip mall with a small pet store there. Nobody is ever in the store, it's tiny. It was a warm day, but not scorching like we have now. I left Halo in the car, with all the windows open and a bowl of water. I was in the store, which I could have spit on from the car, for literally (truly) not more than two minutes. Didn't have to pick what bag I wanted, just picked it up, paid and was out. Boy did some woman blast me!! Is that your dog in the hot car??? She's crying. I thanked her for her concern, explained to her that all the windows were open and she had water and that she was not in distress from the heat she was simply crying because she couldn't see me for 35 seconds. I again thanked her for her concern, told her I fully understood the dangers of dogs in cars...... you get my drift. I know I did nothing wrong, and I know that other people won't necessarily feel that way, but really, we sat for longer than that on the bridge in traffic and nobody cared about if I was too hot, and Halo did not cry then! I agree it is better to err on the side of helping the dog, but if she had been there when I parked and paid any attention at all she would have known that the dog was not in any danger at all. Let's not attack every person who leaves a dog for 2 minutes in their car - big difference to locking it in the car with the windows up and leaving it for two hours. Thank you - just had to say it.

I'm with DD. I leave my dog in the car. Not in heat because I don't trust this one to not jump out when all the windows are fully down but the last one I did. If for longer than two minutes as said then definitely in a spot with shade and a breeze and with frequent checks.

Our friend who was the game warden with a detector dog had to leave her in his vehicle all the time. Stupid regulations forbade him taking her into the office for health reasons the times he had to be there. She was fine.

I actually have some misgivings about that Vet's little experiment. He doesn't look very stressed. He doesn't even seem to be sweating, though he says he is. I wonder if he inadvertently gives the impression his time in the car is ok and thwarts his whole message.

But I also think it's better to be hyper alert than complacent in this area. Some people just have rotten judgement. If they do any thinking at all it's so flawed it's scary that they have a driver's license. Just yesterday I heard on the radio that a little girl was rescued from a car. I heard a statement from the mother of a little boy who died when his eejit father left him in a car for 7 hours while he was at work. These are the people the messages need to hit, so tragic that they didn't.

The problem is never with the intelligent people that frequent our forum. Obviously when it's not too hot, or the car is shaded, or you can use the common sense god gave you - nothing will happen to your dog

The problem is that there are too many thoughtless (and just plain old stupid) - people out there and nobody needs a test to get a dog. So every year dogs die.

These types of stories will continue to get shared...and hopefully incidents like these will decline because of this sharing. (I do agree though - the vet test could have been more compelling - and it was too long)